forefront of all. But the Boer sees with the eyes of sixty years ago!

The ideal was impossible, the struggle hopeless, the end certain.
They trekked, and trekked and trekked again; but the flag of
England--emblem of all they hated--was close by; behind, beside,
in front, or over them; and the something which they could not
fight--the ever-advancing tide of civilization--lapped at their
feet, and slowly, silently, and for ever blotted out the line where
they had written, 'Thus far and no further.'

The South African Republic had been in existence as an independent
State for twelve years when it reached that condition of insolvency
which appeared to invite, or at least justify, annexation, as the
only alternative to complete ruin and chaos. And there are very few,
even among the most uncompromising supporters of the Boers, who
seriously attempt to show that the Transvaal had any prospect of
prolonging its existence as an independent State for more than a few
months when Sir Theophilus Shepstone annexed it in 1877. The
following picture is from a book published by the late Alfred
Aylward, the Fenian, more anti-British than the Boer himself, who was
present at the time, and wrote his book in order to enlist sympathy
for the movement then (1878) organized to obtain a cancellation of
the annexation. The value of Aylward's testimony would not be fairly
appreciated without some explanation.

Sir Bartle Frere describes him (and quotes Scotland Yard authorities
who knew him well) as one of the party who murdered the policeman at
Manchester, and one of the worst and most active of the dynamiting
Irishmen--a professional agitator, who boasted of his purpose to
promote the Transvaal rebellion. Major Le Caron, too, stated on oath